


Holidays With Your Mage

by down, Milieva



Series: Holidays [1]
Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: Everyone is grown-up, F/M, First Dance, First Kiss, Firsts come in threes, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-09-28 18:23:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17188073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieva/pseuds/Milieva
Summary: As the Festival ball approaches, Umi and Clef are dancing around - and with - each other





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written on Tumblr in 2013-14, each of us writing a bit a day and then handing it over to the other, through the twelve days of Christmas. Down wrote Clef's sections, and Milieva wrote Umi's. Both of us were trying very hard to get the other to write the plot. And we've been trying to make each other edit it so we don't have to for the past 5 years too...

oOo Clef oOo

The Castle of Cephiro was full of people bustling about, making final preparations for the celebratory ball tomorrow. They made it a dangerous proposition to walk through the corridors – Clef was fairly certain Lantis and LaFarga had made it an agility test for their apprentice Guards to get through without knocking into anyone. That, or the apprentices had made their own game of weaving between the people carrying flowers and cloth and lights to decorate the ballroom and the gardens outside it.

For his own part, Clef had helped by extending the ballroom to twice its normal size. It now reached out into the gardens, a glass roof and extensive windows letting in views of the flowers which had been coaxed into blooming at precisely the right time to be perfect for the high day. There were doors all about the extended room to allow people to step out onto the terraces, and he had seen Presea helping to create a bandstand among the flowerbeds to entertain those who drifted away from the dancing inside and wanted a softer music to underlie their talk.

That done, he had holed up in his study before anyone could ask him for any more favours. There he planned to stay – all night, if need be. He had shields about the room to keep out casual visitors, and had stolen back the kettle which someone (he suspected Umi) had returned to the kitchens the last time he went three days in a row on little more than occasional naps. His stash of teabags had been replenished, and there was a small bathroom hidden off one side of the study, so he was well supplied for water as well; he even had a blanket which would make the window seat a perfectly passable bed, if slightly narrow.

It wasn’t that he minded the festivities. He rather liked them, in fact; the music, and the amount of people letting themselves relax for a time. But rather too many of them were choosing to celebrate here, at the Castle. That many people in one place was… wearing.

Even that he could usually have coped with gracefully, at least for a short while, but this year…

Clef glanced across at a small wooden box sat on the edge of his desk, half hidden behind a stack of papers. He could feel his face flushing slightly, and scrubbed his hands across it. There was no need to be embarrassed! All he had done was, well. Buy a present.

…A present for a certain Knight of Water, who he might or might not have promised to dance with.

He wasn’t _sure_ he’d promised any such thing (which was part of the embarrassment, actually). She had been asking if he even knew how to dance, three weeks ago, and with Ferio trying to talk to him about when he was planning to actually extend the ballroom at the same time he’d only managed to half pay attention to either of them. He might have promised to show her how the dances went – or he might just have promised he would actually show up, either was possible. By the time he’d gotten rid of Ferio and turned around to actually talk to her she’d been heading back to Tokyo with Fuu and Hikaru. 

It would be mortifying to admit he hadn’t heard what she was asking, after that. She might rightly question why he’d said ‘yes’ without knowing what he was agreeing to. He’d asked himself that same question a dozen times since, and come to no answer he wanted to admit.

But he’d been thinking about it, since. Thinking about the festival. Even this time last year he had still been holding on to his child’s form, and disinclined to attempt the dancing – partners of the right height being fairly scarce, partners of the wrong height being an invitation to bruised toes and knees. This year, though, he had let himself grow. Not… tall, he had never been that, and felt no need to expend the effort to stretch his figure beyond natural inclination. But more mature. He stood eye to eye with Umi, these days, though she was possibly a little taller than he was. He hadn’t stood close enough to be able to tell.

He would… like to dance. With a friend.

(Whether Umi was precisely that, though, was-)

Shaking his head again, Clef shoved another pile of books between himself and the box. 

High days had been an excuse to give small gifts to loved ones, when he was younger. It had been a long time since he’d done anything of the kind, but he had overheard Ferio and Lantis talking. This year, it seemed, their Ball was falling on the same day as some kind of Earth holiday which also involved the exchange of presents – they were discussing what they might give Fuu and Hikaru.

Well, mostly Ferio was trying to persuade Lantis that Hikaru probably didn’t need another sword, even one for training. Clef hadn’t stayed long enough to hear who won that argument.

A few days later, out in Bentley to see to some houses which refused to stay standing, Clef’s eye had been caught by the gleam of gems in the window of a jeweller’s shop. While waiting for the local Priest to arrive, he had wandered inside – most of his rings were getting so old that the magic which let the gems act as storage was beginning to fade, and he had no wish to lose his belongings to a breaking spell.

He had no excuse for walking out with nothing for himself, but a set of earcuffs each with a blue stone which exactly matched the hilt of her sword, set in coils of silver.

Even less excuse for the matching bracelet in the box with them.

And, of course, it wasn’t until after he’d bought them and hurried away that he actually took in the jeweller’s comments about ‘not letting anyone know’ when he said, absently, they were a festival gift. It was rather a shock to realise that ‘loved ones’ had been distilled to ‘lover’, when he wasn’t paying attention. He tried, for a whole day, to let himself believe that Tokyo’s holiday – the one Umi had barely mentioned in passing – was enough reason to give her something. At least part of it. Because he could see her wearing them – see the bracelet gleaming in the soft light while she gestured, the cuffs bared by a tilt of her head to one side, listening.

And… it would have given him something to talk about, if they did dance. A distraction from her hands in his, from being so… close.

When he finally broke down and asked Ferio about it, though, he found that even Tokyo’s celebration was one for couples. Now he didn’t know _what_ to do; if he gave the present, he was worried what she would think he meant by it. (He didn’t exactly know what he meant himself; Spirits forbid she ask him!) But he couldn’t make himself return the items. Didn’t _want_ to return them.

So here he was, in a stalemate with himself, hiding in his study because he was so distracted by his own thoughts that he hadn’t the wherewithal to cope with anyone asking him things which required him to think.

One day left to decide.

He needed to make up his mind, soon. Because the one thing he was certain of was that Umi would not let him hide away in his study all evening, no matter how much work he found to hide behind.

oOo Umi oOo

Privacy was not easily found this close to a ball. What with all the fussing over clothing and accessories, Umi had seen Hikaru and Fuu at least six times in the past two hours as they tried to work out the final details of what they were wearing. Their last visit had seen the three of them fitted into their new gowns by Caldina, and final alterations had been done this afternoon, just to be sure they were perfect.

It was all a bit much.

Umi stared into her mirror, toying with her hair. She had no idea what she wanted to do with it. Caldina was insistent she do something rather than just default to wearing it down, or braided into a long plait down her back as she’d been doing more recently. But what was she expecting? Probably pulling it up in some way. Umi twisted the long tresses up at the back of her head, and pulled a face. Maybe.

Her hair cascaded down her back as she dropped it and walked away from the mirror. She was trying hard not to worry about tomorrow. It wasn’t as if it were her party to be fretting over. She was merely a guest. An honoured one, being a Magic Knight, but a guest in how many hundreds? Thousands? (Hadn’t they expanded the ballroom for this celebration?)

Why were there always so many _people_ at these things?

At least Clef was going to be there.

Or, at least he’d said he would be, when she asked. He might have even agreed to dance with her, but she couldn’t quite remember if he had or not because she couldn’t remember if she’d actually _asked_ him, or if she’d just dreamt it. So many conversations were getting confused lately, reality blending too easily into things she’d merely imagined in her head one too many times. 

Oh, the things she’d imagined.

She rubbed her flushed cheeks and sat down on the bed. They were friends. Maybe something slightly more, but— Umi shook her head hard to force the thoughts away.

Hands. His in hers. Hers in his. Hers tangled in his hair…

 _Friends_ , her rational mind insisted, shoving that image as far back in her mind as possible.

Was that what she wanted to be? The wicked voice in the back of her head asked the question, trying to pull the image back out again.

Maybe that was why she had gotten him the gift. Hadn’t someone said something about High Days being an excuse to give presents to people? Caldina, perhaps? And then it was Christmas too, and giving gifts on Christmas was rather ordinary in most parts of Earth, so it wasn’t as if it really had to mean anything, right? Just a friendly gesture. She’d found something he’d like, and bought it for him. Friends bought things for their friends all the time. 

When had this gotten so complicated? After he’d grown? Before?

Clapping her hands over her face, Umi fell back onto her bed and let out a loud whimper. Perhaps it would be in her best interests to get out of her room and go talk to someone. The trouble was the only person she wanted to see or talk to at that particular moment was the very person she wanted to push out of her mind. But if she were distracted by him in the room with her, she’d be less distracted by thoughts of him, right?

Hey, maybe he’d say something which would let her know if they actually _were_ planning on dancing together. It was hard to prepare for it when she didn’t really believe it would happen, when it felt like another of the dreams which left her restless, impatient and nervous all at once.

But if they were going to dance… She was going to need all the preparation she could get.

oOo Clef oOo

The first two knocks on Clef’s door were people wanting opinions on decorations, who he redirected to Ferio and Caldina as quickly as he could. The third time someone knocked, he was expecting much the same, and didn’t look up from the report he was writing now he was finally managing to concentrate. “Who is it?” he called, dipping his pen in the ink again.

Ferio and Umi had both laughed for nearly half an hour when they realised his standard response to a knock on the door was ‘what do you want?’ – apparently, that didn’t sound so very polite. Before, he would just have opened the door to everyone. But with so many people still living and working around the castle – and with so many inane questions being brought to him now they all knew where he worked – he had stopped that in self defence. If it made him seem less accessible, well, good! And he wasn’t going to throw Ascot in their way either, even if he was acting more and more as Clef’s assistant right now, saving Clef time he could then use to teach Ascot.

Doing research to help Clef was one thing – and was helping Ascot catch up on a magical education he’d mostly missed when he ran away to be with his friends rather than have them feared and hurt by the people of his village – but organising meetings, wading into disputes between the plant-mages and the more usual gardeners (because apparently the site of the orchards was a touchy subject?), and trying to find time in Clef’s schedule to actually attend all the things he was meant to be at – those weren’t things Ascot should have to bother with, let alone the questions like ‘could the upper levels of the towers have balconies to match the rooms in the middle sections?’ and ‘why is the water not working in the bathrooms in the south tower?’.

Umi said he needed to adopt one of the apprentice mages to be a ‘personal assistant’, whatever that was. Or one of the clerks who were responsible for recording most of the meetings anyway. He was close to giving in and seeing if he could find someone. The only problem was, it meant letting someone else have control over his schedule, have access to his life, in a way which made him fidget. Ascot, he knew and trusted. 

But Ascot really deserved the chance to take time and decide what he wanted to do with himself, not accidentally end up with a job because he was so eager to please anyone who showed him the slightest hint of kindness.

When he realised that several seconds had passed with no response, he looked up, frowning – just in time for the reply. 

“It’s Umi. May I come in?”

Hissing under his breath, Clef blotted the splodge of ink which bloomed across the paper where he’d dropped his pen, mostly spreading the stain across his fingers as well as the report, and stumbled to his feet. “Of course – just wait a moment, I’ll get the shield for you-“

He forgot the box on his desk until he was at the door, and then could only glance back at it – there was nowhere he could hide the dratted thing without several minutes work. With the amount of paper he’d rested against it, hiding it from himself as he sat in the chair, he certainly couldn’t pull it into his ring: better he take the chance Umi not notice it than have her in hysterics at everything cascading off his desk.

And if he did want to give it – it would be more casual if it was a day early and just happened to be on his desk, right?

Clef made up his mind. If Umi noticed it, he would hand it over, as casually as possible. If not, he would find some other occasion. It wasn’t that long until Umi’s birthday, that would be just as reasonable an excuse for giving her a gift. More, in fact.

He pulled the shield aside with one hand, magic crackling about his fingers, and opened the door with the other, stepping aside for Umi to duck in – out of the way of someone carrying what looked like half a tree’s worth of cut branches for use in the decorations. For a moment, Umi and he both turned to watch the leafy twigs swaying as the carrier walked, half blinded by her burden, people scrambling out of the way with more laughter than irritation.

“Do you think the gardeners agreed that half their work would end up inside the Ballroom?” Umi asked, leaning out the door to see how those branches got about the bend in the corridor. She grinned at the sight, then stepped back into the study, turning the grin on Clef. She’d listened to his complaining over the last round of garden disputes. “I don’t think they’re going to be pleased, otherwise.”

“I sincerely hope that they’re supervising things.” He closed the door before anyone else could get ideas about talking to him, shot the bolt, and flicked the shield back across the gap with a sigh – then realised Umi was laughing at him. “What is it?”

“I knew you were hiding – but I didn’t realise you were doing so so seriously!” She said, waving a hand at the door, and Clef didn’t know quite what his expression looked like – especially when he realised that he’d just ensured that the two of them were alone, in private, with a door secured twice over.

(And one glance at her, laughing and bright-eyed, so close, was enough to start the cascade of thoughts about precisely what people might imagine were happening behind closed doors- he bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, where she wouldn’t see him do so, trying to ground himself and get his mind away from that kind of nonsense.)

Fortunately, Umi seemed too busy laughing at him to notice when his flush turned from mildly embarrassed to suspiciously bright. And everyone else who might notice should – hopefully – be distracted by the preparations to do so. “Why did you come to see me?” He asked, stepping away to get back to his desk, where he could at least sit down and put some vertical distance between them, even when she followed him back. Though today she stopped on the other side of his desk, eying the piles of paper he’d built into shaky ramparts.

…In fact, she stopped right next to the box with the gift he really shouldn’t have bought.

“I came to ask if I could hide in here for a while, actually.” She admitted, whispering her fingers over the tallest pile of paper. “Fuu and Hikaru are so excited about this whole Ball thing that they’ve changed their minds on what they’re wearing at least three times each so far – not the dresses!” She said, with a laugh for his confused expression – he’d heard Caldina’s orders about fittings at the dinner table so many times even _he_ was aware they had new things which they would wear, or Caldina would personally chase them about the castle until they agreed to get into them. “Jewellery, hair style, things like that.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “And you aren’t so excited?”

“It’s not that, it’s just –“ She stopped, looked down at the papers again, and Clef nearly reached out to her, to try to call her back from whatever she was thinking, which made her seem so distant. “…So many people. And I’ll know hardly any of them, but they’ll all know who I am. You know?”

Ah, indeed. “Yes. That is something I know all too well.” He said, with a wry smile and a wave of his hand towards the door. “Hence the defences, in fact.

“Yeah. It’s not that I don’t care what I’m wearing, exactly, it’s just – I care more about who’s going to be there. I want to spend the evening with my friends, not strangers, and-“

Umi’s words tumbled faster and faster until she cut them off, silencing herself before the end of the sentence, and only waved him off when he asked what she’d been about to say. Instead she poked at the papers yet again, and then raised an eyebrow at him. “Are these a part of your defences too, Clef? I don’t think a castle built out of paper is going to be much good. Not unless you glue the pages together, at least.”

He couldn’t help snickering at the thought of gluing together all the pages of dry, dusty draft legislation and financial reports, all of which he was meant to be reading before next week's Council meeting. “Tempting though that is – no. Unfortunately, making more arms of our government functional seems to have increased the amount of paperwork it produces at least ten times over – and now we have no Pillar, all the Council get to read everything so we can argue about it with each other. Most of this I don’t have to do anything with, but the one time I decide not to read it will be the time that something slips through and I realise, six months later, that no one’s been paying the mages in the north east, or something equally bizarre.”

“…Is that why you seem to have thrown your pen at it?” She pointed to the ink on his fingers, the drying blot on his work. 

“You made me jump!” He protested, flushing yet again.

Umi teased, but he’d learnt before this that when she asked what he was working on – as she did now when she’d stopped giggling at him – she didn’t mind if he rambled about the latest thing which was trying his patience. She pulled one of the other chairs up to the side of the desk and listened, apparently amused by his ranting and making suggestions when she could, which sometimes helped him find some of the answers which remained just out of reach while they stayed on paper.

It startled both of them when the dinner bell went.

Umi stood, brushing her clothes back into place. “Well, I should go – are you coming?”

“I’ll fetch something from the kitchens later.” Clef said, shaking his head, reaching for his pen. “You go, get away from my rambling! This isn’t _your_ job.”

“I don’t mind.”

“You should do.” He told her, feeling a little guilty over how much of her time he’d eaten up with his concerns – how little talking she’d done.

…And in all that time, she’d not once asked about the box on the corner of the desk.

Umi headed for the door, and Clef hesitated again. But she stopped when she got there, turning back with a raised eyebrow – and rapping her knuckles against the shield he’d entirely forgotten about.

Clef stood, and was reaching out his hands for the box before he knew quite what he was doing, shifting the pile of paper on top of it to the floor and wriggling it out so he could take it over. “Umi – here.” He shoved it at her, not quite managing to meet her eyes. “Because- you always listen to me. And we give people gifts around now – well, we used to, when I was younger, customs change sometimes and – um.” She was staring at him, wide-eyed. “…If you don’t like it, that’s fine, I just – saw it when I was out and waiting for people to arrive, and thought you might-“

He pushed the box firmer into her hands when she made no move to take it, and let go when her fingers curled reflexively about the edges. Then he turned back to the door and dismissed the shield, too discomforted to try parting it. Easier to put a new one up when Umi left.

Only when he turned back, she hadn’t moved.

oOo Umi oOo

Startled was putting it mildly, though stunned was a bit much. At the very least, Umi was very, very surprised at being presented with the box she found herself so suddenly clutching.

She attempted to get out some sort of response, but only managed to open and close her mouth a few times.

Clef turned to the door, not watching her.The removal of the shield sent a shiver up her spine. There was something about magic, the tremor in the air or something else that teased at her senses. His magic, at least. Not that she’d let on. Especially not while she was holding his gift.

Umi gently lifted the lid, and her breath caught again. A set of ear cuffs and a bracelet which matched, all delicate filigree which somehow managed to swirl like water in a pool, the surf pulling back from the beach. The silver swirls glinted in the light as the blue stones flashed. He hadn’t actually picked them to match her armour, had he? No. He couldn’t have. Or at least he shouldn’t have. She snapped the lid shut and looked back up at him.

“Clef, I couldn’t—” She stammered helplessly at him. “They’re beautiful, but—“

“If you like them, you should keep them.” There was a gentle flush of colour to his cheeks as he insisted, and she bit her lip, clutching the jewellery box closer to her. While she didn’t see why he’d be so keen to give her such a lovely gift, she didn’t want to give it up.

A glance past him showed the cascading pile of papers that had been resting on the box in her hands, as several of the piles on his desk started slowly subsiding into the gap. He noticed at the same moment and said something impolite enough it didn’t translate, shoving a hand in the way to catch the slipping papers and then staring at the mess before grabbing a heavy book from the other side of the desk and wedging it between them. 

For a moment, she’d forgotten that he was so swamped. She hated the idea of him staying buried in this paperwork. He probably wouldn’t remember to fetch something up from the kitchens, either. Every time he’d told her he would, he inevitably forgot, or just didn’t get round to it. More often than not someone came round to check up on him late into the evening to be sure he’d eaten, on a kind of supper-delivery duty. They were usually sent by LaFarga or Lantis, who would have to deal with a hungry-and-grumpy mage at morning meetings otherwise, but she knew Ascot had done it himself a few times without prompt, and Ferio too on days the Guard were undertaking some large-scale operation.

Perhaps she’d stop by on her way back to her room with something for him. Maybe even try to coax him out and to his own rooms to rest at a reasonable hour for once, but that was a little far fetched.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come down to dinner?”

“And make you listen to me rambling even more?”

“I really don’t mind.” 

There was no way she was going to tell him that she liked the sound of his voice, whether he was ranting or not. At least not outside one of those conversations she imagined having a lot and would probably never actually manage aloud.

He was about to protest again, give some excuse about his mountain of paperwork or any number of things he should be doing, but she suddenly resolved she was going to have none of it. No excuses. “Come on, you.” On an impulse she reached out her hand and grabbed his. “You’re coming down to dinner with me, if I have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming.”


	2. Chapter 2

oOo Clef oOo

The jewellery box vanished into Umi’s gauntlet in a second as she pulled Clef through the door, a rush of motion he hadn’t anticipated; he couldn’t seem to find an argument to stop her. He wasn’t precisely ‘kicking and screaming’, but he did manage to counterbalance Umi’s grasp of his arm long enough to drag the door to his study shut again, wincing at the sight of papers slowly sliding from the corner of his desk before it was blocked from view. “Hold on – just a moment!” He said, not quite hopping in place as he leant away from her.

Umi’s fingers were wrapped securely about his hand, and she tugged harder, frowning back at him – he slammed the palm of his free hand down against the surface of the door and shoved unrefined magic down into the wood, until it hit the traces of the spell he’d only just removed and he could safely push it into the same shape without taking the time to think about what he was doing. The hasty spell-work was still flickering into place when he gave in and let Umi drag him away.

She seemed determined to charge straight through the middle of the people milling through the corridors – and as a tactic, it was working for her, though Clef was half-running to keep up with her long stride and make sure he didn’t manage to knock into any of the bemused bystanders.

(He didn’t quite want to consider what they were thinking. Not with Umi’s fingers curled almost to his wrist, comfortably warm against his skin, and- no. He wasn’t going to think about the amused, speculative expressions people were throwing at his letting Umi tow him through the corridors, even while they were getting out of the way.)

“You could go a bit slower, at least!” He managed, nearly stumbling as they went about a sharp corner. “The food won’t run out if we don’t get there in the next ten seconds!”

Umi slowed, fractionally, glancing back at him. Clef nearly caught up, but the image that would make – the two of them walking hand-in-hand to the Hall – flashed across his face (and probably in red across his cheeks at the same moment). He managed to only _almost_ draw level with her.

He didn’t realise he’d also used the easing of her tug on his arm to twist his hand in hers, not until his fingers were securely about her wrist in return. Breath catching, he entirely missed Umi’s retort, too focused on the delicate skin under his fingertips and the compulsion to stroke across it. Thankfully, he had some small measure of control left, and refrained from doing anything of the sort.

He didn’t let go again, either, but that was neither here nor there.

The trip from his study to the Hall wasn’t a long one. It was on the ground floor where the public could reach it without getting lost in the identical corridors up in the towers, along with the offices assigned to all the other Council members, so they had somewhere accessible to work when they were here to attend meetings. 

They spilled through the doors, and he wasn’t certain whether to be glad the walk was over, or embarrassed by the looks they got from their friends. 

When Umi shoved him down into a seat with one hand on his shoulder and a declaration he was going to at least eat properly tonight, even if she couldn’t make him sleep in his own bed (and how he hoped she hadn’t felt his flinch at that, his mind speculating on what bed she _could_ get him into- stop that!) she got a set of nods instead of laughter He started wondering guiltily how many meals he’d been taking at his desk recently, if even Ferio wasn’t taking the opportunity to tease.

The hall was already decorated for the festivities, with flowers and branches and bowls of all the just-ripe fruits which were being harvested. There was enough distraction and chatter bouncing about all the tables that the Knight of Water dragging the Guru in wasn’t remarked on as it might have been otherwise, and the sight of everyone so happy… 

As long as they didn’t all try talking to him, he enjoyed seeing his people so joyful. They deserved it. Pulling Cephiro into her new shape was a gargantuan task, and not over yet. If they wanted to make a fuss over the high days, then let them enjoy it!

Umi dropped into the seat next to him as soon as she was convinced he was going to stay where she’d put him, but Fuu and Hikaru were beside her, and full of the questions she’d avoided by hiding in his room for the afternoon. For Clef’s part, he was apparently not allowed to take part in any work discussions over his meal – when LaFarga tried to ask something about the security for the ball, he got halfway through his question then went silent, and Clef turned just fast enough to see the end of Umi’s glare which had cut him off. He – chose not to argue about that, either.

Though when Caldina came and accosted Umi over what jewellery she was going to wear, he ducked his head, failing to keep yet another blush from heating his face. At least no one else could link that to Umi’s protests that she had something perfectly reasonable to wear, she just hadn’t paraded it about in front of the rest of them yet.

(Which didn’t necessarily mean – in fact, probably didn’t mean, because why would it – that she was thinking of wearing his gift, but that was immediately where his mind leapt.)

“And what are you wearing, old man?” Caldina asked, poking him on the shoulder. “Don’t tell me, the same thing as last year? That won’t do! That set of robes is just the same as your normal ones, you need something special. But I know Master Dart wouldn’t mind throwing something together for you tonight, we’re meant to be having drinks and making sure everything’s ready – his Guild sponsoring so much of the festival and everything – but we’re all ahead of schedule, I know he could-“

“There is no need to do any such thing!” Clef sat up straight, feeling slightly indignant. “I have a perfectly decent wardrobe, even if you might think it old fashioned. I do _not_ need any new clothes!”

In truth, the clothes he had vaguely planned on wearing for tomorrow hadn’t seen light of day in several centuries – no point, when they wouldn’t fit him, designed for this form rather than the one he'd been holding to for centuries. He probably did need to get them out of storage and check nothing had damaged them before entirely ruling out the need for new clothes, but he could certainly organise that himself! …Even if he’d apparently avoided doing so until the last moment, he’d been so busy recently.

“If you’re sure?” Caldina said, grinning back at him, entirely unrepentant, before leaving him alone. Clef turned back to his plate, shaking his head – and having to pause to look at Umi. He could have sworn…

For a moment, as he turned, he could have sworn she was staring at him.

Probably she was just curious about what ancient clothing he was going to turn up in, he decided, and fixed his attention firmly on his food.

oOo Umi oOo

Hikaru and Fuu at least waited until they were all back in their suite before catching Umi's hands and drawing her to one of the sofas, grinning. "Did you have a good afternoon with Master Clef?" Fuu asked, head tilting to one side as she studied Umi. "We did wonder where you had vanished to."

"I was hiding from Caldina," Umi muttered, trying not to go bright red. "Why shouldn't I hang out in Clef's study?" 

"Oh, so you were with him the whole time?" 

Hikaru beamed at both of them as Umi glared at Fuu. "Did you give him a Christmas present?" 

"I didn't give him anything! It's not even Christmas yet. And it's not like we're dating." 

"You don't have to be dating to give someone a Christmas present, not if you're really good friends - we've got things for each other, haven't we?" 

"Well, yes, but - it's - oh, stop it!" 

Leaning in, Hikaru wrapped her arm about Umi's shoulders to hug her briefly, then backed off a fraction. Fuu, on the other hand, was still watching her steadily. 

"What jewellery did you bring to go with your dress, that we haven't seen? Did you go and buy something special for it?" she asked, slowly. 

Umi shoved up from the sofa, flushing hard, and stomped across to her room. "I'm going to bed!" she declared, though it wasn't late yet. 

Leaning heavily against the back of her bedroom door, Umi took a long deep breath with the hope of calming her rushing thoughts. A moment to herself today would be nice. If only she had a damn lock on her door, or else she would bet on Fuu or Hikaru turning up in an hour with a tea tray and more not-really-subtle questions.

Whose idea had it been to do the suite of rooms this way? The large shared reception room was behind a door to the main corridor which locked - their front door, in a way - but the three bedrooms off it didn’t have locks at all, leaving all the knights open to being disturbed by the others and their visitors, even if they didn’t want it.

It seemed like the sort of thing Hikaru would have come up with, but she didn’t remember them being consulted about the rooms. Maybe people here just assumed you’d learn to shield if you wanted privacy, or there was some way to request a lock that she didn’t know about.

It wasn’t always bad. It was nice knowing you could go to one of your friends in the middle of the night, if you needed someone to talk to, but sometimes, you just wanted to be alone. To think.

Being able to cast a shield _would_ be nice.

Alighting on the idea, Umi stood up straight and spun round to face her bedroom door. Why couldn’t she cast a shield? No one ever said a water mage couldn’t. And she’d seen Clef do it countless times in her visits to his study. It couldn’t be that difficult. Her room wasn’t all that big, probably perfect for practicing.

She pressed her palm to the surface of the door. There was almost certainly a good word for the spell, but she wasn’t looking for words, just the bit of magic she wanted. Closing her eyes, she grasped the power and pushed her other hand against the door, spreading the glimmering shield across the door panel, over the frame and through the walls. The brightness of it faded slightly once she’d stopped building it, but the shimmering was still visible just under the surface. 

Umi was proud of her spell, and took a step back to admire it, but only for a moment. Turning away from the door, she summoned the box Clef had given her and walked with it towards her bed and sat down.

They were ridiculous, her thoughts on the jewelry. But at the same time her mind wouldn’t leave it alone. Gifts of that sort tended to mean something. Not just having found a thing in a shop that makes you think of someone. Especially not when they perfectly match the recipient’s sword, a deep shade of blue she’d only seen here in the water shrine, very rarely elsewhere. That couldn’t really have been an accident, could it? He had to have done it on purpose. 

Though, it being so rare, if he _had_ come across something while he was out and about, maybe it wasn't so strange he would think of her? 

She opened the box to look at her present. Why did the gift need to mean something? Umi stared over at the shopping bag in the corner of her room. She’d got him a gift, hadn’t she? It’s not like she really meant anything by it. But a pen wasn’t like jewelry; you didn’t wear it against your skin for hours, a constant reminder of the person who’d given it to you. 

She would wear them, that she did know. For the ball, because she wanted to let him see her in them. Maybe then he would tell her if they did mean more than just friendship.

The box snapped shut loudly and she thrust it and its distracting contents under her pillow so she wouldn’t have to look at it, and be distracted by unwelcome thoughts.

oOo Clef oOo

Clef sat on the floor in the middle of his bedroom, in the centre of a slowly-growing pile of chaos, emptying out storage gems he hadn’t looked through in- well, several centuries, for some of them. Long enough that the storage spells, even untouched, were beginning to fade. They were on the verge of damaging his belongings, if they hadn’t done so already, and clothes tended to be the first to start eroding. He needed to find them and check he actually _did_ have something to wear.

After his complaining at Caldina, it would be terribly embarrassing to find he had nothing usable left. He just… had not actually added up how many years it had been since he had looked through some of this stuff. For a long time now, acting as Guru, he’d not bothered having any home of his own – which meant all the true-item furniture and so on he’d once used was in here. Spell-made things, of course, there was no point keeping. But items made from real wood and stone, by the smiths and carpenters and masons, those he had stored away and half-forgotten. Left in the castle throughout the fall of Emeraude and the revolution afterwards, it was a wonder that the stones had continued to exist at all, but they had made it; he’d brought them up from the vaults when they were sorting out all the belongings people had packed into the lowest levels of the castle while they were fighting to survive the interregnum, but never got around to looking at them.

And as he couldn’t remember what was in them, the only way of finding out was to summon the whole contents of each. He’d found a bed, several tables, five bookcases – which were no longer in the pile, he’d put them against the far wall already. The warm wood with its gloriously carved griffins and dragons and wyverns running up and down them looked good, filling the empty wall neatly, and he’d put a few of the nicer bits of crockery and the like on them, out of the way.

…Probably Umi would laugh as soon as she saw, because he’d found three different tea services which he’d decided he wanted out where he could use them.

But none of the things spread in piles about him were clothes.

He’d not bothered looking, when he changed form – none of the robes he’d had before he became Guru would have been reasonable for his rank when he was working now, and he did little but work these days. It was easier just to have his old outfits remade to fit him, and keep wearing the same things. It also reminded everyone who he was, as a surprising number of people had been confused at first.

There were another three gems left. He looked at the lack of free space about him with a wry expression, and spent the next twenty minutes shifting everything he’d got out of the others onto the old bed or behind it, so there was room for another surprise set of furnishings to appear without crushing glass cups or something else into the carpet. He didn’t remember ever owning more than one bed, but there could easily be a second set of bookcases he’d forgotten about in here somewhere - he’d had plainer ones before indulging himself with the ones he’d now found, and couldn’t remember if he’d passed them on or kept them.

He held the next stone in his hands, turning the smooth coolness over. It was entirely spherical, and a deep dark blue; the spell on it seemed steady, at least, when he asked it to offer up its contents.

There was a soft flare of bluish light, and then there were books tumbling across the carpet, some managing to stay stacked in piles, others falling scattered across the floor. Most were hardbound, lettering in silver and gold glinting on the spines; others were sewn together with only pretty coloured papers at each end.

Clef looked down at the bounty, and took a step forward, reaching for the closest pile – he picked up the first of the books with a gentle hand, smile creeping across his lips as he traced over the title. “Tales of the spirits of the greenwood,” he read.

It wasn’t that he’d forgotten the books which went with the bookshelves should be in here, he’d just… forgotten quite how many of them there were. Histories, stories, theoretical discussions of magic and a dozen other things. He had worried they would be damaged – he had always meant to rescue his library when he had a week to spare to them, but never found the time. Yet he could see nothing wrong with any of them, picking up volume after volume and examining them closely.

Some time later, he looked up, and blinked – finding himself sat in the centre of his books, half way through a treatise on summoned creatures he must have read a dozen times before he dared try his own spell to do so. The light had faded from the open window – he had no idea how long he’d been sat looking through the books.

And he still had no clothes for the ball.

Guiltily, he pulled himself up – though he took the book with him, sitting it on his bed – the one he had been using the past few years. He turned to the last two stones, and promised himself that this time he would not get distracted.

If he went to the ball in his usual robes, Umi would certainly laugh at him. His old things _must_ be in here somewhere.

oOo Umi oOo

It was early the next morning when Umi was woken up by someone knocking on her door. It wasn’t just the knocking that was unusual (no one ever seemed to knock on her door, they just walked right in) but how muffled it was. Then there was the annoying tug on her magic that almost itched.

After a few moments of burying her face into her pillow, hoping whoever it was would just go away and let her sleep, Umi realized not only why they were knocking, but why the inside of her chest felt like it was itching.

She’d left the shield up on the door.

Blearily, she sat up in bed and reached toward the door, like she’d seen Clef do dozens of times. She could almost feel the shield, like a scratchy bit of fabric under her fingertips as she reached out towards it, and easily plucked it off the door, letting it fall away to nothing.

The knocking was instantly louder and was joined by the sound of her name from a very insistent, very loud voice.

“Come in,” Umi groused, flopping back onto her pillow.

“Okay.” Caldina burst through the door not a second later with Umi’s gown hanging casually over her arm, glancing hastily about the room as if looking for something or someone. “Where is he?”

“Where’s who?”

“I’d say it was Clef,” Caldina went on despite Umi’s obvious state of confusion, almost wildly, still eyeing the corners with suspicion. “What, with that shield and all, but I don’t see him being the sort to go gallivanting about in your private rooms. Take you off to his maybe, but not yours. Too open.” She eyed the lack of a lock, then the door and frame, before glancing at the walls as if looking for some sort of sign. Good shields didn’t leave marks, though, so there would be no fingerprint of who’d cast it. “But that shield was pretty good. One of the guards then? They have good shields don’t they?” Next she peeked out the window, possibly to assure herself the many-hundred-foot drop still existed, but still rattled on to Umi’s bemusement. “Someone with transport ability, I suppose….. Maybe Kymera? She’s got all the right attributes, and I know she’s given you the look over more than once. You finally give into her advances, then?”

Umi blinked at Caldina’s question, opening her mouth once or twice and just pulled a face of consternation. “What are you talking about?”

“Are you sleeping with Kymera?”

“What? No!”

“Then who was in your room last night that shielded the door?”

“No one was in here. I shielded the door myself.” Umi declared, almost angrily. “Just wanted some quiet time to myself, without you all fussing about. That totally seems to have worked.” She glanced out the window herself at the early morning glow of the sky. It was far too early to be awake. “Beyond that, what are you doing in my room this early in the morning?”

“Final preparations for the ball tonight, darlin’.” Caldina waved dramatically on her way to Umi’s wardrobe. She flung open the door and began pulling out the things that had been agreed upon as accessories to go with her dress; the dress that had gone from draped over her arm to her shoulder. “Now where’s this jewellery you said you had?”

“Huh?” Umi was still a little too asleep to fully register the question at first.

“Jewelry,” Caldina repeated slowly, enunciating each syllable. “You said you had something suitable for a ball?”

“Right.” Slipping out from under the warm comfort of the duvet, Umi staggered across the room to her bureau and pulled open the top drawer to find it only held the few trinkets she’d picked up in Chizeta last season.

Umi flushed when she realized that she’d left the box tucked under the corner of her pillow. She’d been too tired by the time she went to bed to bother putting it where it should have gone on her bureau. Pulling it out from her bed was less embarrassing than enduring the look Caldina gave her when she handed the box over, but she wasn’t going to even think what it looked like.

“Oh!” Caldina gasped in delight when she opened the little box. “These are gorgeous. Where’d you get ‘em? Secret admirer perhaps?”

“Something like that,” came out of Umi’s mouth when she opened it, and they only served to make her cheeks grow warmer.

Caldina at least didn't poke at the subject too much longer after inquiring if it was anyone she knew. Though she just gave up her inquiry for now because she was more interested in getting everyone's outfits finalised, so checking they matched the gown was more important at that moment. Even if she came back to the topic later, Umi wasn’t going to give in and answer the questions at all.

For now, Caldina checked them out, nodded approval, and then shooed Umi off to go have breakfast with the others.


	3. Chapter 3

oOo Clef oOo

The thumping on his door dragged Clef unwillingly out of a perfectly comfortable sleep. He raised his head enough to glare at the door, then buried his head under his pillow. Maybe if he ignored them, they’d go away.

They didn’t.

“Hey, Clef!” Ferio yelled, through the door. “Come on, let me in, I know you’re in there – you always bang a shield on it when you leave your room, and my hand isn't tingling. …I brought tea?”

Ferio was far too stubborn to leave. And – well, Clef wasn’t one to turn down a ready-made cup of tea. Turning over again, Clef raised a hand to the door and asked it to unlock and open while he sat himself upright, running his fingers through sleep-mussed hair. (He’d long since stopped caring who saw him half-awake in his pyjamas – too many emergencies sent people to wake him late at night. Besides, Ferio was a friend.)

His mind was still drowsily sleep-fogged, so Ferio’s wordless exclamation confused him – until he looked up, and focused on the piles of stuff which filled the room. Furniture, pottery, glassware, and a hilly landscape in miniature made of books.

“What the- did you go on a spending spree yesterday, Clef? I thought you’d holed up in your study again, not gone out shopping!” Ferio wove his way along the narrow pathway to the bed, holding a tray up high in front of him so he could see where he was stepping. “Then you didn’t show for breakfast, and you weren’t working… are you all right?” He looked at the short stack of chairs beside the bed, blinked, and visibly decided he’d rather sit on the bed than try shifting the unevenly stacked books which were now on top of them. “Or are you just planning on moving out?”

“Don’t be foolish.” Clef muttered, reaching for the tray as he pulled his legs out of the way of it and Ferio. There were two cups with the teapot, and a selection of food – more than he would eat, but not quite enough for two breakfasts. Ferio was obviously on his second meal of the day.

“Mind you, Umi suggested you were running away so you wouldn’t have to dance tonight.” Ferio smirked at him, and Clef knew he was flushing, tried to concentrate on pouring his tea and getting it to his lips. He wasn’t awake enough for this conversation. (He probably wasn’t ever going to be.) “I hear you promised to actually get out on the floor this year. At least, you promised Umi one set?”

“She said that?” Clef asked, looking up, but Ferio shrugged.

“Fuu heard you say something about dancing, anyway. Which means you have to turn up – but seriously, Clef, what’s with all this stuff? If you really do move out, Umi’s not going to be the only one disappointed by it.”

“You mean you wouldn’t be able to come ask me to find answers for all the weirdest questions?” Clef asked, a little acidly, but Ferio’s grin was so unrepentant he had to laugh. “Well, don’t bother worrying, I’m not moving out anytime soon. When would I have time to look after a house? I was going through my belongings – the storage gems have been sat gathering dust in here since the Renewal, and the spells are far older than that, they were beginning to fail. I needed to find something to wear for tonight, so decided I might as well just empty the lot out…”

Ferio had already helped himself to a piece of the sticky, spicy bread that was a festival specialty, and looked about while he munched on it. “Couldn’t you remember where the clothes were?” He asked, as soon as he’d swallowed – and laughed at Clef’s expression.

“There’s – a slight possibility that came into it?” Clef winced as he admitted it, then gave in and laughed, looking at the mess. “I’ve been meaning to look through them for an age, though, and I never seemed to find the time or the energy to start. Now I’ll have to. And – I was glad to see my books again. I stayed up somewhat later than I meant to, looking through them, hence sleeping in. I didn’t think anyone would mind, it being a holiday.”

“I don’t think any of us believed you were capable of it, unless you’d exhausted yourself doing something ridiculous and wiped yourself out.” Ferio poured a cup of tea for himself and refilled Clef’s, as Clef started picking at the food. “Maybe some warning next time? However many years that is-“

“I’m not that bad!” Clef protested, and was laughed at again.

“Maybe not quite that bad, but still! Did you at least find your clothes, after going to all that effort?”

Clef waved a hand at the bookcases. The outfits he’d found in reasonable condition hung from the empty shelves, or were folded on them. As he’d feared, a fair number of the clothes had been damaged in some way, the cloth dessicated and falling to dust as he touched it. There had still been a good dozen sets of robes in reasonable condition. “In the last stone, of course. But either the dark blue or the grey should be fine for this evening, and they’ve taken no harm.”

Ferio eyed the clothes, and his lips twitched yet again. (The festival seemed to be infecting Ferio with an irritating case of high good humour. That, or it was the fault of the sugary sweetbread, of which there certainly seemed an overly large amount in comparison to the other foods on the tray.) “Grey with blue, and blue with silver – well, whichever you choose, you’re likely to match Umi well enough.”

“Ferio!” Clef’s cheeks were hot again, and he tried to glare, but it wasn’t particularly effective effective on Ferio at the best of times. “Won’t you stop- there’s nothing-“ he waved one hand in the air, helplessly unable to finish a sentence.

“Sorry, sorry.” Ferio said, raising his hands, with one final grin. “So, what are all these books about that you’ve found, anyway?”

Conversation remained on safer topics through the rest of breakfast. Clef was thankful for that – and all too aware that it probably wouldn’t do so this evening, not if he did dance with Umi. But he refused to worry about it until then. 

Fortunately, he’d given himself an effective distraction, scattered about his room.

oOo Umi oOo

Caldina must have done it on purpose. Umi was convinced of it as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

It was the dress she’d decided on, so pale a blue it was nearly white with dark blue and silver accents to it, but Caldina had changed it. Umi would swear to it. The back had definitely not dipped so low in the earlier fittings, she was sure.

Umi couldn’t say she didn’t like it, but it certainly wasn't what she’d planned upon for the evening.

“What have you done to it?” she asked, eying herself sideways in the mirror.

"It looks better this way," Caldina insisted, fussing with the skirt and sash. "We need to accentuate what you've got, and that certainly ain't your chest."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Umi glared at Caldina. "That doesn't mean I should be going about half naked."

"It's just a little skin," Caldina tutted and gathered up Umi's hair. “Your swimming outfit shows more, and you were wearing a dress nearly as low as this one last week. Plus, you’re not showing any leg. It balances out.”

“Caldina!”

“Umi.” Caldina let go her hair and stepped around to take her by the shoulders, looking utterly serious for once. “You’ve got something you want, right?” 

Her face flushed. “N-no, I-” 

“I don’t understand your _taste_ , but I guess you’re old enough to know what you want. Only your target’s stubborn, and you need him to actually notice you’re all grown up, right? You need every weapon you can get if you’re going to win quickly. This dress?” She poked the heavily embroidered shoulder. “It’s a classy, elegant weapon. And you look awesome in it.” 

Umi didn’t have any decent reason to argue for a new dress this late before the ball, and it as it was still quite ...pretty. Even if she wasn’t convinced by Caldina’s declaration she looked awesome, and it exposed a bit more than she really wanted on show… 

Her mind was less preoccupied with the amount of skin it showed, more _where_. Because a number of the dances she might stand with Clef (should he really keep his agreement) would have him touching her bare skin with his hands.

Curse Caldina.

She was going to wear it. 

...But not just yet. “I’ll sort my hair out myself when it’s time to get ready,” she muttered, not able to look at herself in the mirror - she was blushing far too hard. 

Caldina beamed. “If you panic too much, steal Hikaru’s dress from last year, you’d look good in that too,” she advised. “And if you develop any reasonable taste in the next few hours your could always ask Kymera to dance-” 

“ _Caldina!_ ”

oOo Clef oOo

Why, Clef wondered, had he made the mistake of leaving his rooms?

For most of the day he’d been quite happily distracted sorting through things he’d long forgotten he owned, and trying his best not to be distracted by the books until he’d cleared the rest of it. Many of the things he had no need for, and no particular attachment to – if he’d forgotten he owned it, it might as well go to someone who would care rather more for it.

…His books were not going anywhere, of course, but back onto the shelves. Only they had come out of the gem in no order whatsoever, and he wanted to make an inventory of what he actually had, match it to the libraries to see if there was anything they were missing which he could copy. Or have the Clerks copy. So he was saving them until he had space to sort through them all, which meant going through everything else first.

But he’d found himself sat looking at an elegant tea set in shades of blue and sea-green, wondering if Umi would like it, and had to put it somewhere he couldn’t see it – on his shelves that he was meant to be ignoring for now. It took rather longer to put aside the thought: what would she think of this cup? These chairs would look strange to her eyes, with their old-fashioned single-leg… What would she want to keep, if she was living in-

No. That line of thought was- no.

So he ended up abandoning his room, seeking a distraction from his distraction, and was quickly dragged into helping with the last of the alterations and the decorations for the hall. Only so far he’d had to alter the shape of the windows at least three times to better suit the large and branchy decorations which had been put together, as well as moving two light fittings, and just because he _could_ alter the castle about didn’t mean he enjoyed doing so for little purpose – and that was before Caldina found him.

“You aren’t wearing that tonight!” Was the first thing she said, frowning at the plain robes he had on. They were one of the sets which hadn’t come through their time in storage so well – the mantle had been ragged with holes, and he’d left that off, but the middling-blue of the trousers and shirt was just slightly faded and creased; fine for an afternoon digging through old things, and probably getting them dirty.

He glared at her. “Of course not.”

“I know you don’t have much of a sense of fashion, Guru, but even you should be able to tell those need throwing out! Are you sure you have something appropriate for tonight? Because if not, there should still be time to get to Dart – he’ll charge, at this hour, but-“ He would probably charge a lot, it was late enough that Caldina had already changed, standing there in an outfit of pink with gold and black, which was remarkably – flowing, considering how much skin it managed to put on display.

“My taste is perfectly reasonable! If I go about in my working robes near all the time, that’s because I spend most of my time working! Or would you recommend I wear evening dress to help drag half the garden about in here?”

Caldina’s hand-wave was dismissive. “Well, I’ve seen no evidence of this sense of taste, what with you wearing the same thing to all the festivals I’ve been to-“

“Fine!” Clef slammed his staff down with a thump, light flashing about its base, staying where he had put it when he took his hands away. He clapped his hands together, too irritated to bother with the proper words – or gestures – and blue-white light flashed about him as he thought of the clothes hung in his room.

He’d been wondering about the grey, as the blue might – well, blue was Umi’s colour – but Spirits take it, the robes were centuries older than she was! So it was the deep blue which wrapped into place about him, the soft mantling and the edges of the long, belted tunic heavily embroidered with silver, the belt one of metal which still fitted neatly about his waist, buckle a neat looping of silver about a flat stone which was only a few shades lighter than the cloth of the tunic.

In cut, admittedly, it was showing its age – but it was old enough to be classic, rather than out of date. “Will that do?” He demanded, spreading his hands out so she could see the whole – and Caldina blinked, for a long moment, apparently speechless. Then a slow smile spread across her lips, and she looked past Clef’s shoulder.

“What do you think, Umi? Will he do?”

Clef blinked, then spun about – and Umi was staring at him from the doorway, eyes wide.

oOo Umi oOo

“Yes,” was all Umi managed to answer, giggling at his frustration, and not trusting herself not to make a comment that would probably irritate him further.

Clef changing his robes in the middle of the ballroom was not only a little surprising, but very… well… 

She had to admit it was rather cool. (And that was all she was admitting.) Maybe he’d teach her that spell. She’d have to ask him later.

The robes weren’t half bad, either. (She’d maybe looked him over once so far, maybe twice…). She liked the swirling metal of the belt especially, but she was _not_ going to stand here and stare at his… belt buckle.

(How did that even work, or did you have to think it off, or- no!)

She wasn’t here to stand in the doorway and admire him. She’d come with a specific purpose in mind.

“Are you very busy, Clef?” she asked.

He brushed dust off his hands, looked down at his robes, and let out a laugh. “Not anymore.”

It didn’t take too detailed an explanation to get Clef upstairs, and this fact amused Umi to no end. She might as well have actually been inviting him up to her room to see her duvet, or carpets, or whatever the phrase they used here in Cephiro for definitely not showing someone about the room.

That might have been why she intentionally left her bedroom door open when she led him inside, so no one got the wrong idea about why he was there. Not that there was anyone there to see - Hikaru and Fuu both passed them in the doorway, dressed up and excited, though Hikaru did take a few seconds to say ‘the other dress is on my bed if you need it’ as they went by. 

Umi could have sworn she’d left the shopping bag in the corner, but it wasn’t anywhere to be seen now that she had him with her. Not under the bed or the bureau. She couldn’t have left it at home because she’d had it less than an hour ago, even tied a little ribbon on the box to make it look nice, but still casual, or something that wrapping it definitely didn’t feel like.

After fluttering around the room while Clef lurked in the doorway (she must have looked so silly) Umi found it safely tucked into the top drawer of her bedside table.

“It’s not much compared to the jewelry you gave me.” She was flushing again, her cheeks too warm as she thrust the box at Clef more like a weapon than a present. “But I saw this pen while I was out shopping and thought you’d like it.” 

He couldn’t tell how much of a lie that was, could he? She’d totally gone out shopping specifically to get him the pen for Christmas. Yes, it made her think of him, but that was only the reason she’d decided on that specific one.

“I got you blue and purple ink; I wasn’t quite sure which you’d prefer. I know black would probably be more appropriate for most of the documents you write, but I really like the coloured inks, you know. They make writing so much more fun. I can show you how to fill it later, if you need help?” she babbled, then hastily handed him the little bag with the two ink bottles in it, deciding she wasn’t sure she actually wanted to watch him open the gift.

What if he didn’t like it?


	4. Chapter 4

oOo Clef oOo

Clef hadn’t been sure what Umi wanted him for, but welcomed any excuse to get himself out of the ballroom before Caldina could start irritating him again, or anyone else decide the windows needed to be just a shade higher, or wider, or have a pointed arch instead of a semicircle at the top… Though it was now late enough that the musicians were setting up, and the first of the castle’s inhabitants beginning to arrive, so hopefully there wouldn't be any more adjustments. 

The two other knights were among the people heading down, which meant he was alone with Umi in the suite, but he didn't have time to feel awkward before he was being given a gift. When she handed over the box then added a bag to his other hand, he blinked, startled – and his first reaction was to be relieved, because if she’d bought him a present then surely that made his own less out of place?

There was a seat by her bureau, and he dropped into it before pulling the two glass bottles of ink from the bag first. The liquid inside was richly coloured, gleaming as strongly as any of the gems which would be worn tonight; he held the purple up to the light and started to grin. “Black is the only ink we have which remains strong enough to be legible after a few years on documents, but it gets rather… monotonous. And if people insist on my making remarks on their reports and their Bills to set before the Council, I see no reason I shouldn't use something more interesting.”

“…Are you planning on scribbling all over people’s work in purple, Clef?”

“And blue!” He held that one up too, and the colour was a sky just after sunset. “At the very least, it will ensure they pay attention to what I’ve written, as well as being decidedly easier on the eyes. Thank you, Umi.”

He put them on the surface, and turned to the box which must hold the pen. He carefully untied the ribbon about one end of it, and then took a moment to realise that the lid must be sprung – there was no catch, it just took a larger amount of force than he was used to using to open it. And once he had…

A griffin curved about the body of the pen, gleaming gold set into black lacquer, perfectly smooth. It’s wings flared out, and it’s tail curved all the way down to the tip of it, fine lines standing out beautifully against the base.

He stroked it with one fingertip, almost reverently.

The pen, unlike those made in Cephiro, had a lid – it lay hooked through the loop of ribbon which held the pen in place, and from Umi’s comment it also filled with ink rather than needing to be dipped every few lines. He’d had a pen somewhat like it many, many years before, which had served well and died of overuse, and in Cephiro’s growing isolation he had never been able to replace it. He hadn’t thought to, since the Renewal. Just as he hadn’t thought about the things he had in storage.

“Thank you, Umi.” He said, again, voice soft this time.

“You like it?”

He looked up, and she was watching him nervously, hands clutched together. “I like it very much.” He assured her, smiling, and she glanced away with a flush on her cheeks. “I had something a little like it, once, and that was nothing to this-“ He stroked the wings of the griffin again, then thought and looked up, confused. “I thought you didn’t have griffins in your world?”

“We don’t, at least – I think we never have, but people imagined them, a long time ago? We have them in art, and stories, but not in nature.”

“I see.” He made himself close the lid on it, but couldn’t stop smiling. “I almost want to go back to work just to use it-“

“If you try working this evening, I’ll take it back!” Umi stepped closer, leaning over him, and he laughed up at her.

“Well, perhaps not. I suppose I should wait until after the ball to see how it takes ink, as well, or I'll have strange splotches all over these clothes, after all the trouble it was to find them.”

Umi shook her head and stepped back, to sit on her bed. “You did find them, and not have them made?”

“Yes – in the very last place I looked, of course. But it did make me look through the rest of my belongings, things I hadn’t seen for – a while. I’m glad to have found my books, though, and my bookshelves! The books haven’t gone on them yet, I haven’t had time to sort them, but they fit perfectly along the wall of my bedroom. You should come to see them – they have dragons on, as well as griffins, and-“

Umi was giggling, helplessly, hiding her face in her hands and flushing. It took him a moment to realise why – that he’d invited her to come see his _bedroom_ , of all things.

“I didn’t mean – do you need to change, Umi? I should leave you alone so you can get ready. The ball should be starting by now, Hikaru and Fuu are already there-“ He stammered, flustered, and she laughed more. But when he stood, she waved a hand at him, choking down the giggles.

“Would you mind – would you wait for me to get ready? I’d rather not go down on my own, if I don’t have to. I promise I won’t take long.”

“Of course I will," he assured her, and retreated to the lounge with pen and ink bottles, still smiling down at that griffin.

oOo Umi oOo

When he was gone Umi hesitated, but picked up the sweep of blue fabric with an excited, nervous shiver, not going to look for Hikaru's. 

In the end, the dress was the easy thing. For all its catches and clasps, it was still very quick to put on. The wicked little voice in the back of her head wanted to add that meant it was just as quick to take off. That wasn’t exactly something she should be thinking with Clef just outside the room. She pushed the thought away, and sat down in front of her mirror to begin the battle with her hair.

She was always torn over the length of it. Sometimes, cutting it seemed like the most reasonable option. There was just so much of it; she couldn’t ever quite figure out what she wanted to do with it.

Perhaps she _should_ have let Caldina style it. She’d at least be ready now that she was dressed, rather than making her friend wait outside while she stared helplessly at the mirror.

Scolding herself for taking too long, Umi just started grabbing random bits of it and began braiding it into quick tiny plaits. Other parts, she simply twisted and pinned to the back of her head. She could do a pretty up style, she just need to stop fretting over it being perfect, because that would get her nowhere and just make her feel more annoying for having made Clef wait for her to begin with. The tiny plaits she wove through the knots. Once everything was securely pinned, she found a few of the clear-jeweled hair pins Caldina had tried to talk her into, and added them in pretty much at random.

A small hand mirror let her see her handy work on the back of her head, but she didn’t take too long to admire it. She’d gone and left Clef waiting far too long as it was. Plus, the longer she looked in the mirror, the longer she was looking at herself in this dress.

Umi stood up too quickly and tripped over her hem, falling sideways toward the bed and knocking the chair over in the process with a decided thump. Her face flushed and she hissed as she snatched her shoes closer so she could shove her feet into them and get out of the room.

Oh, why had she asked him to wait? This was ridiculous.

Sure, arriving together would make it more difficult for him to back out on his promise to dance with her, but it would also look like they really were attending together, and she hadn’t exactly asked how he felt about that idea. He might not be comfortable with the idea of publicly implying a relationship they didn’t have. If coming together even meant anything in Cephiro, which she didn't know for certain. Why were these sorts of things so damn confusing? She shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head. He was a friend and that was all that mattered tonight.

And she shouldn’t keep him waiting any longer.

Umi stopped at the door, smoothed her skirt, and took a deep breath, then opened it and stepped through.

oOo Clef oOo

Clef was alone in the lounge for just long enough to realise that arriving at the ball together would attract attention, and to decide he didn’t care. Dancing with Umi would raise more comment than just walking into the room at her side, and he was already committed to that… and he quietly, stubbornly, wanted to spend the evening with her. More than anyone else, Umi managed to take his mind off all the things he hadn’t managed to finish, all the work which loomed in the near future and the problems he couldn’t see a way around, and he wanted that.

Just for tonight. Let him relax.

He looked down at the pen, and laughed quietly again. If one gift could throw him into the spirit of the festival so easily. But then, it was a very fine gift, from a very dear-

A dear _friend_.

Swallowing, Clef waved a hand and let the box with the pen and the two ink bottles vanish into his ring, dropping to sit on the long settee. His certainty faded away as swiftly as it had arrived, if not faster. Because- well. Because he had agreed to dance with Umi. He had given her a present, he was almost bouncing with happiness over the gift she had taken time to find for him, and that _meant something_.

He knew it did, and he was unlikely to make it through the evening without saying something he didn’t mean to say unless he faced that fact now, a thing he had been avoiding for months.

Then there was a thump from the bedroom, and he jolted to his feet. He was halfway to the closed door before he stopped himself and wavered, hesitating, about to call and ask if she was alright – and then the door opened, and he stared.

Umi’s hair was caught up, twisted and plaited and pinned, leaving the long line of her neck bare. Her dress certainly didn’t cover it. There were shoulder-pieces, almost epaulets, but made of silver scrollwork and curlicues with tiny blue stones here and there, glimmering in the light. The curling silver fell down to the top of her dress, and split to angle away to what looked like a low-cut back, and to spill down the centre with hints of skin between the coils for several inches. That line spread again below the chest into a wide band of swirling, curving silver, still glinting with blue here and there, which went as far as her hips on the side of the dress.

The dress itself was fine drifting layers of mist-like cloth, just faintly blue, which draped down about her and floated with each move she made – the very lowest layer, just visible through the translucence of the others and in a flirting inch at the lower hem, was the dark blue of the sky when the last of the day’s light faded. It ended at her ankles, short enough she would be safe to dance in it.

She blinked at him, as he stood and completely failed to say anything. She was…

Not the girl he had first met, not by a long way and several years.

Also, beautiful.

Clef swallowed, and dragged himself together. “I heard a noise. Are you alright?” He asked, and Umi flushed, nodding.

“I just tripped, briefly, I’m fine. I should- oh!” She spun on her foot, and dashed back into her room. (The back of the dress was, indeed, low. He took another slow breath.) Clef took a step forward, confused, as she kept talking. “I forgot!”

“Forgot what?” And then she was back in the doorway, and he didn’t need her to answer, because now her wrist was encircled by the silver and blue he had given her, more gleaming at her ears. He blushed. “…Ah.” 

“I – they go so well, and Caldina would kill me if I didn’t wear some jewellery, and- you don’t mind?”

She looked so anxious, and it was all he could do to bite his tongue and shake his head at her. He could not have been further from minding. “No.” He managed, finally, and gave in. He reached out, and she gave him her hand with a look of confusion until he raised it, his thumb sweeping over her knuckles, and bent to press his lips to the back of it. “You look beautiful, Umi.”

She blushed, and he swallowed again, letting their linked hands drop – but not letting go, and she made no move to pull her fingers away.

Well. “We – should be going.” He said, voice somehow level, and she nodded wordlessly before coming with him to the door.

oOo Umi oOo

Umi’s heart was racing, her legs were trembling, and she was having more than a little trouble actually catching her breath, all since Clef had taken her hand.

How many times had she grabbed Clef’s hand, absently, without really thinking over the past few weeks, months even? Why was it so different when it was him holding hers? The surprise wore off in a few seconds, but the nervous excitement only grew while their fingers stayed tangled together.

She could feel the soft tingle of his magic beneath the surface of his skin, it was alluring, the touch of it, the way it seemed to almost tug at her own magic when she held onto him for more than a few minutes. She wanted badly to see what the reaction would be if there were more time and more skin involved. The thought made her blush even more as she glanced down at their joined hands.

The corridors were so quiet it felt like the building had been abandoned, only the two of them left. There would be no one to see if she grabbed all her courage in both hands - and then grabbed _Clef_ , and…

She wasn't going to. But the urge lurked in her hands, a giddy feeling in her chest.

The silence was slowly broken by the music from the halls distantly echoing to them. As they went, the sound of people talking grew underneath it, filling the castle with life, with happiness, even from this distance. It was such a change from the grim silence that saturated the building when they'd first sayed her that Umi had to grin.

Then they actually _reached_ the ballroom, and no amount of noise could have prepared Umi for this. It was busier than last year, a _lot_ busier.

For a split second, Umi debated tightening her hold on Clef and dragging him back upstairs where she could just talk to him. About whatever this thing was between them, or the weather. Anything really, because she didn’t want to lose him in the crowd. Or lose herself, for that matter.

Seriously, it was as though the whole of Cephiro had turned out. At the very least, everyone in this county had likely to be here.

Slipping away quietly wasn’t going to happen, because Hikaru announced them barely seconds after their arrival, excitedly bouncing up the steps declaring how worried she was that it had taken so long for Umi to appear. That wouldn’t have been enough to turn Umi the shade of red it did if she hadn’t still been holding Clef’s hand as they walked in together.

She dropped her hold on his hand, but kept shoulder to shoulder with him as they walked in, Hikaru leading them over to where their friends had claimed a corner of the room. Umi hesitated. Both LaFarga and Lantis were there and liable to start discussing business to avoid small talk. If Clef got dragged into some work question now, she was _never_ going to get to dance with him

As Hikaru bounced ahead, Umi leaned into Clef. "You owe me at least one set of dances," she said, and waited with her breath caught in her throat for his response.


	5. Chapter 5

oOo Clef oOo

The ballroom was full of people in their finest. Of flowers, and green branches, and candles waiting to be lit as the night went on. The musicians had their balcony at the end of the hall furthest from the gardens, music flowing down across the room, and the sky was just sliding towards sunset through the large windows in walls and roof. There was food and drink, most made with those fruits which were already coming into season, but that was all in rooms opening out of this one – though there were pitchers of watered juice available by the doors to the garden, for when the dancers needed to catch their breath and cool down.

Cephiro’s seasons might be more subtle than those of Tokyo, but they still existed; this was the summer solstice, the start of the warmest days of the year and the best of the harvests. All the dried and otherwise preserved food from last year had been eaten up in the previous month, and tonight was a celebration of the fresh food to come, and another year passing safely.

Clef hesitated in the doorway to take in the sight, fingers still wrapped about Umi’s, but when Hikaru darted forward and declared their presence to the world she let go of him. He almost reached out to take her hand again, but stopped himself. Still, he was glad when she didn’t step far away.

In fact, they hadn’t made it all the way to their friends before she was reminding him of his promise in a murmur low enough no one else would hear her through the layer of chattering and the music being played. Clef glanced between Umi and the dance floor. The current piece of music was just ending – it was still early enough in the evening that the floor wasn’t overcrowded, but there were a fair number of people dancing. More, though, were talking about the edges of the floor, as Hikaru patently expected them to do.

Clef’s hand was cold, without Umi’s fingers pressed against it. And he had to agree with her unspoken sentiment – he would rather take his chances on the dance floor than with the amused expressions facing them.

He offered his hand to Umi for the second time of the evening, tilting his head to the floor. “Will you do me the honour?”

Umi grabbed his hand and dragged him away, giggling at Hikaru’s expression, as she glanced back. Clef didn’t quite dare look to see what it was.

They made their way to the far corner of the room as the dancers spun slowly to a halt, and Clef bit his lip, hesitated, then asked his question anyway. “Umi… you know these dances?”

“Yes, of course!” She frowned at him, meeting his look directly for the first time since he’d kissed her hand. (Not that he had managed to look straight at her between then and now.) Umi was a few fractions taller than him in the low heels she was wearing, but close enough to eye-level. “I wouldn’t have asked you to dance if I didn’t know how.”

“I know, it’s just-“ He swallowed, not quite sure how to say what he meant to. “You don’t mind…”

“What? Clef?”

She was blinking at him now, bewildered, and he closed his eyes, slid closer to her – into a looser version of the dance hold that people about them would be taking up.

The tips of the fingers on his right hand brushed just slightly against the bare skin of her back, where glimmering swirls gave way and left it bare. Umi shivered, stepping closer – away from the touch, into his space. “…You were saying something, earlier, about the back being lower than you expected.” He whispered. “I just wanted to know if you still-“

“It’s fine!” Umi said, voice a little high. “It’s – um. …Why are your hands so cold?” He blinked at the plaintive question, then laughed, letting her pull his other arm up and taking proper hold as the new song began. He rested his hand firmly on her back, at the base of her shoulder blade; their other hands were clasped together, and of all things to be familiar to the knights, this, apparently, had been. “Just like ballroom back home. Only I did ballet instead…” Umi was mumbling, then the music struck up for real, and he stepped forward, starting to twist them about as they travelled along the floor.

The music wasn’t too fast, and the dance not too difficult unless anyone fancied showing off – mostly that would come later, when only the dedicated dancers were left on their feet. For now, after a few hesitant steps, they settled to the length of each other’s stride and made their way in a long oval about the floor with all the other dancers – apart from one very young couple who were causing chaos and laughter by going about the floor in the wrong direction. It was… startlingly easy, to dance with Umi. The sway and swing of the steps fell into place like they had practised a hundred times.

But at the same time, it wasn’t easy at all.

There was a tension, faint, which kept his breath short and his blood singing as it raced through his body. An inescapable awareness of the bare skin under his hand her power singing beneath it, of the way she pressed so lightly against him from thigh to chest. Clef felt giddy, and it had nothing to do with the spins of the dance. He never wanted to stop.

If they stopped, he would have to let go.

oOo Umi oOo

There was no ignoring the knowing look Caldina was giving Umi when she went off with Clef to the dancefloor, but Umi was going to do her best to ignore it, aside from pulling a grimace of exasperation at her. They were just dancing. Under the laws of Cephiro, they were both consenting adults, so there was no reason why they couldn’t have a relationship. It just simply wasn’t the truth, and she wasn't about to just drag him into a dark corner and under her dress! Not that she would mind him pulling her into another room-

No, she was not getting back on that train of thought. Especially now that his fingers were brushing the skin of her back as they moved in time with the music, their bodies complementing one another as they passed over the floor.

Why he thought she hadn’t sought lessons for the dancing, Umi didn’t know. It wasn’t the first festival ball they’d attended, though the others had been far smaller. Probably because the rebuilding efforts had been in full swing - most of Cephiro had still been getting half their crops established the last few years, and there had been plenty of little parties out in the towns.

This year, everyone seemed to have come back to the castle with the pick of their first full harvest, to celebrate with everyone else.

Clef hadn't spent much time at the previous balls. He certainly hadn't spent it on the dancefloor. So perhaps he really hadn't realised they'd spent more time dancing than talking last year. It wasn't so different to some of the forms back home, and she'd been to enough fancy parties with her parents that they'd given her some ballroom lessons to go with the ballet - Hikaru had borrowed the Shidou dojo when it was empty and the three of them had many laughing hours learning to dance the Cephiran way, getting demonstrations of a new move or two each time Caldina could give them ten minutes in their visits here.

Dancing with Hikaru and Fuu, much though she loved them, had never been like this. Pressing so close to Clef kept sending her thoughts drifting to other thoughts of bodies moving together. The twisting and closeness that seemed perfectly normal with her friends was suddenly nothing like innocent, and the only thing that had changed was how she felt about the person she was dancing with.

Maybe it would be a good idea to grab a drink in a minute, and see if she could actually catch her breath.

oOo Clef oOo

A ‘set’, in Cephiro, was six dances – the musicians would play them straight through, and then there would be a short pause so everyone could catch their breath, have a drink. Clef and Umi started dancing on the second, and stayed all the way through the rest of the set. But the music faded away eventually, and when they twisted to a final halt Clef stepped, slowly, back. Their hands parting, he bowed, and Umi curtseyed back with a flick of her skirts to one side. They looked back up at each other – then she started giggling, and he had to grin.

The formality felt stranger than the dancing had. He wasn’t quite sure what that meant.

“Would you like something to eat, or to drink? Both?” He offered, shifting closer again to avoid being knocked into by the people now flowing off the floor. Umi considered, and he pulled a face at her. “I could use a drink, at the very least – and a rest!”

“What, tired already, old man?” She reached out and took his hand to pull him out of the way of another couple – and didn’t let go.

Clef swallowed, but managed to keep talking. “It has been a very long time since I was last on a dancefloor, you will have to excuse me if I need a short break now and then.” He let his fingers tangle with hers, pressing his thumb to the back of her hand. The floor was almost empty now, but they were still stood motionless – and he had just managed to imply that they would be dancing again, possibly all evening. That... wasn’t precisely what he'd intended to do.

“…Well, if you need the practise, I suppose I’ll have to volunteer my time to help.” Umi told him, but softly. More like an offer than a statement.

“It would save anyone else from having to do so, at the very least?” He murmured back, and Umi’s hand tightened on his, for a moment. He knew his face was flushing bright red. But he held on, and let his thumb sweep across the back of her hand.

She didn’t pull away, didn’t let go.

Clef swallowed again. There was a pause, while he didn’t know quite what to say, and apparently she didn’t either. Then she glanced back towards the doors to the gardens. 

“We could have a drink and get outside for a minute? It’s a little hot in here.”

“Yes.” He nodded, and they set off together, completely ignoring everyone who might have been waiting to talk to them. He definitely felt the need to cool down, right then.

oOo Umi oOo

Getting drinks was the easy part. At least it was the way she went about it, nearly barging her way through the crowd to avoid her friends stopping them to talk. It wasn't much further to the gardens, though so many people had spilled out onto the large patio by the doors to the Hall that it was just as full as inside. She kept up her approach as she pushed through them; if anyone looked the least bit familiar, she did her best to steer clear of them. 

Hopefully Clef didn’t mind her attempt at keeping him to herself for the better part of the evening, because that definitely seemed to be what she was trying to do. Oops.

Weaving through the crowd they made their way off the patio and through one of the flower-covered archways, out into the garden proper, Umi still leading the way. Caldina was going to never leave her alone about tonight until she had all the details. Not that she was really expecting to have anything terribly exciting to tell Caldina once she was cornered the next afternoon. 'I held his hand and had feelings about it?' Though… he was holding her hand. He was walking with her, dancing with her, and he'd _given her a present_.

This was Clef. She knew he didn't go about casually touching his friends. So maybe this did mean something?

Or maybe she was the only person who ever actually tried to touch him, and he'd be fine with it if everyone else did.

She didn't know! And the only way she could think of to find out was to go find Hikaru and Fuu and ask them to hug Clef and see what happened.

Or she could ask him.

The second method would get her a real answer, but it was somewhat terrifying even in her own head. Umi shook her head a little, and felt one of her hairpins start to slide out. She reached up to push it back, and the silver-and-blue on her wrist gleamed. Pausing a moment, she glanced from her bracelet to Clef, whose cheeks were still deeply pink.

He hadn't given anyone _else_ a gift.

Breath catching, Umi pulled him along a little faster. The main terrace of the formal flower gardens spread out below the patio, all neat and low hedges and a profusion of contained colour, neatly grassed walks laid out in a pattern, the whole visible to everyone else and full of walkers besides.

The lower terraces had higher walls as they went down and down to the lake at the bottom of the gardens. Surely there would be a little more privacy there.

By the time they stepped onto the first of the lower terraces, Clef had caught up with Umi, so they were simply walking hand in hand. Yeah, Caldina was definitely going to be wringing her for information if she caught wind of this.

She pulled him to a stop in a quiet corner of a path just off the main terrace, and looked down at their joined hands. He wasn’t letting go. She stroked the back of his hand absently, as if it were a habit she’d always had. He returned the gesture; the touch of it sending her heart racing. Her face was still flushing, and she hadn’t cooled off from dancing yet, despite the cool breeze.

She sipped her drink slowly, enjoying the silence, but also burning with questions she longed to know the answers to.

“Hey, Clef?”

He hummed in response, turning his face towards her, eyes meeting hers. "What?"

Umi took a breath, trembling, and blurted out, "What would you say if I told you I want to kiss you?".


	6. Chapter 6

oOo Clef oOo

Drink in one hand, Umi’s fingers wrapped about the other, Clef’s mind was remarkably quiet. They hadn’t said much while dancing, but that had been a different kind of quiet – one which was wrapped up in the music and the motion and the overwhelming awareness of Umi. Now there was some gentler music drifting past, which was easily ignored, and as long as he didn’t walk into anything then that took little attention as well – the awareness of Umi beside him was all that remained, and it was…

Nice was probably the wrong world. As was comfortable. They were both too… soft, somehow, but the closest he could get to describing the way he felt. 

He was… content, just walking with her, and they came to a stop in a quiet corner of the lower gardens, on a quiet path with little star-shaped night-blooming flowers all about them.

“Hey, Clef?“ Umi said. 

He turned, humming something wordless in response – but she was watching him too intently, pausing a fraction too long, and a flicker of tension caught in his chest. 

Umi hesitated, biting her lip. He tightened his grip on her hand. "What?"

“What would you say if I told you I want to kiss you?” Umi blurted, all in a rush, and Clef's breath caught.

Clef opened his mouth, closed it again – his grip on her hand was probably painfully tight, but he couldn’t let go – and all he could think was _oh_. He was staring at Umi, silently, and for too long. Long enough she flushed further and tried to pull her hand away. He stepped closer, instead, reaching with his other hand – and there was a glass in it.

Hitting Umi with his drink was not the plan. He twisted back, looking for the nearest table – there had been tables set out all along the garden paths for tonight, surely there should be something close? But, no, nothing. However, they were stood beside a raised garden bed, with a low wall of roughly shaped rock about it. He set the glass down on that instead, and turned back to Umi – who was also holding a drink.

He took that one too, while she stared at him, apparently completely bewildered now, and no wonder! But no matter how hard he thought about it, the static in his brain would not shift far enough for him to make words out of it. Drinks gone, he took her other hand in his, stepping closer.

“Clef-“ She whispered, eyes wide – and then looking over his shoulder as a loud burst of laughter from very close made them both flinch.

They were still close to the ballroom, their corner of the path not really all that private, and suddenly Clef wanted very much for everyone else to go away for a while. It seemed unlikely, though, so he pulled at Umi’s hands until she followed him further into the gardens, away from the rest of the guests.

The formal flower gardens gave way to the orchards, the trees hung with lanterns, and still Clef kept walking – fast, before he could lose his nerve, before he could start thinking about this too much. Umi came along with no protest, weaving between the trees with him until they reached the gate which led out of the orchards, and into the thin strip of tidy woodland, only five trees or so wide, which made a buffer between the gardens and the encircling wall.

A very few lanterns hung here and there, but there was no one else in sight. Even the patrols on the top of the wall couldn’t see down through the thicker canopy of these larger trees; it was perfectly quiet, and they were very much alone. The lanterns were glowing softly now, as the sky grew darker overhead and the shadows deepened behind the towering shelter of the wall.

He stopped below one of the trees, took a breath, and looked at Umi. “Ask me.” He said, and his voice cracked. He swallowed, laced their fingers together and stepped closer to her. She watched him intently, silently, and he could feel the press of magic under her skin – under his own, his power flickering in response to this tension. He slid his thumbs over the back of her hands, both at once, and watched her take a deep breath. “Ask me that again.”

“What would you say if I asked if I could kiss you?” Umi whispered it, leaning forward, the words more direct, the question still the same.

“ _Yes_.”

The final inch between them vanished as he tilted his head towards hers, and caught her lips with his own.

oOo Umi oOo

Electric. That was the only word her mind could find to describe the sensations, not that it was trying terribly hard to find any words at all as her lips pressed against his. She let out an embarrassingly desperate whimper as she leaned into him, dropping her hold of his hand to run her fingers up the back of his neck and tangle her fingers in his hair. His own hands took the chance to wander freely over the expanse of her back, bringing yet another quiet gasp to her lips.

The flicker of his magic was even more present when her body was pressed against his, hands and arms pulling them as tightly together as possible, but not nearly close enough. There was no way to be close enough unless she could feel his magic pulsing through her own body.

He caught her lower lip with his teeth, teasing her as he tugged gently. She tried to return the gesture, but was thwarted by the angle of his head and his enthusiastic kisses. She persisted, undaunted.

...So maybe Caldina was a little bit right, though Clef had been the one to drag her into a dark corner, and she wasn't complaining _at all_.

All those dreams, those hours imagining, nothing came close to the sheer immediacy of Clef pressing against her, real and willing and both of them slightly awkward, noses bumping and hands shaking.

His hands on the bare skin of her back felt amazing. If they felt so good there, what would they be like elsewhere? 

She wanted to find out.

It didn’t take very long for her to discover that a strategic stroke of his neck made Clef catch his breath and gasp against her lips. Taking the initiative, she broke the kiss to trail her lips over his cheek and across his neck. She dragged her teeth gently across his skin, tempted to bite, but unsure if she dared to.

He staggered backward under her ministrations, clinging to her, and she followed until he was backed firmly against a nearby tree. She slid her hand back into his hair as he wrapped his arms tighter about her waist, and he tilted his head into her touch, eyes closing, giving her easy access to his neck. She made use of it, nudging his collar aside to get her mouth on the point where his shoulder met his neck, and he shuddered against her with a moan which sent coiling heat all the way through her chest and belly. 

Just kissing him wasn’t going to be enough to sate the growing need to touch him.

Umi pulled away, and tried not to smile too smugly at his sound of displeasure at when he could no longer reach her with his lips.

“Hey,” she said, between gasps for air. “Did you still want to show me those bookshelves of yours?”

oOo Clef oOo

Between the hand on his neck, then Umi following it with her mouth, the tree he was pinned to was probably the only thing keeping Clef upright; but being pinned back against it was yet another distraction. Because of that, it took a good few moments for Umi’s words to translate into meaning, and then he had to laugh, leaning his head back against the tree trunk.

“I did indeed invite you to come see them. Are you saying you’d like to do so?” He asked, running his hands down over her spine, feeling the heat of her bare skin and the pricklish flare of magic against his fingers. She shivered against him, biting her lip- he repeated the motion, and she shivered again, then tried to glare at him.

The expression didn’t have quite the same impact when she was pressed against him, magic flaring between them every place they touched.

“Well, you said there were dragons involved. But if you’d rather stay out here…”

He pulled her closer, leaning up to kiss her again. When he pulled back, her eyes were mostly closed, and she wasn’t glaring anymore. “If you want to – I would like you to come back with me.” His hands tightened against her back, as she looked at him, and he had to swallow hard. “But I honestly don’t care about any bookshelves right now.”

Umi nodded, slowly, and he swallowed. 

“Then – I could take us straight there?“

“Yes.” She slid her hand up about his neck, and he had to pause a moment just to breath, collect himself, before he could reach for his magic.

“Hold on, then.”

Power flashed about them, cold and hot and over in an instant as he transported them directly into his room. It was dark inside them – his windows faced sunrise, not sunset, in an attempt to make himself wake up early and go to sleep at a reasonable hour. (It hadn’t worked yet.) He took one step back, raising his hand to call light to at least the lamp by his bed – and tripped over something left on his floor, sitting down rather suddenly on the edge of the mattress.

When the soft lights came on a moment later and illuminated the piles of books and other belongings he’d pretty much forgotten about, Umi stared about at it all, then pressed her hands to her mouth in an attempt to keep from giggling. It didn’t work very well. Clef stared about as well, his brain starting to work again – and what was he doing? What were they-

“Hey.” Umi stepped carefully forwards, reaching out to slide one hand over the side of his neck again – and his thoughts all stuttered out into sheer awareness of that touch, again. (She had, he realised distantly, figured that particular reaction out very quickly.) “Stop thinking so much, Clef. Or don’t stop thinking, but don’t – do you want me here?” Her voice shook a little on the words, and there was only one possible answer to that question.

“Yes.” He whispered, reaching up to her. She leant in, close enough he could feel her breath on his lips. And then they were kissing, and he breathed the word again. “ _Yes_.”

Together they tumbled down into the crumbled mess of the sheets, moving together with less practise but more enthusiasm than they'd done on the dance floor. In so many ways this was only the extension of that - following the touch and motion and the tension it had created to a mutually satisfying conclusion.

oOo Umi oOo

The sun was insistently peering in through the half drawn curtains when Umi awoke the next morning. She grumbled a few choice words in annoyance and buried her face in the pillow, her hand hitting something beneath it as she tried to hide from the bothersome ray of sunlight. Pulling it out, she found herself clutching a book, small and flat enough she hadn’t noticed it last night. 

Then, she’d been highly distracted the previous night. 

Clef's arm was draped over her side beneath the duvet as he lay curled close against her back. Last night, they'd done things that made her blush to think of, delayed embarrassment at her enthusiasm. But he'd liked it - he'd told her so, repeatedly. Had whispered promises he wanted to keep spending time with her, do it more, keep on touching her…

She would have dismissed it as a dream, but here she was, still wrapped in his embrace.

“Hey, Clef,” Umi said, quietly rolling over towards him, book still in hand.

Clef mumbled something that sounded like a combination of ‘What’ and ‘Who is it’ as he groggily opened his eyes.

“You probably shouldn’t keep books in your bed.” She grinned at him.

He blinked at her, then the book, and slowly began to smile brilliantly at her. “Maybe not,” he agreed, his voice rough. “But it is convenient when you want quick access to things.”

He plucked the book out of her hand and stretched his arm behind him to set it on the small mountain of books on the bedside table, only the moment he let go, the entire thing spilled onto the floor with a few very loud series of thumps. Umi couldn’t help but giggle. She was surprised that particular stack had even lasted the night.

“So, is a habit then? Keeping things in your bed?”

Clef laughed, brushing the hair from her eyes. “Only things I really like.”

“Like books?” Umi teased, curling closer to him.

“Not _just_ books..”

Umi caught her breath as his lips met hers. Maybe someday she’d get used to the way their magic played beneath their skin, but for now, she’d rather just lose herself in the feeling.

For the next few hours at least.

oOo The End oOo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed our way of entertaining ourselves with our OTP!
> 
> We wrote this five years ago and mostly finished editing this version about five minutes before posting (it's a little expanded from the original). Given we've since moved in together and got married, this kind of online back-and-forth fic is, hilariously, a lot harder. We just both look at each other's fic now.
> 
> Best wishes from both of us for a good 2019!
> 
> Comments are love!


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